Women's Roles in God's Bits of Wood

1) God's Bits of Wood is an historical novelone based on actual events. From the novel, to what extent and how did women drive events and what were the differences between their goals and those of men? Why the differences?

The novel God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane is an account of the strike Senegalese trainworkers underwent in pursuit of equal benefits and compensation from their French employers. In an effort to coerce the workers into returning to their jobs, the French cut off the water and food supply to the three villages wherein these events transpire: Thies, Dakar, and Bamako. Ousmane's novel explores the way in which these hardships evolve the worker's and their families till the strike is ultimately resolved. Arguably the most significant transformation that takes place is in the role of women within these societies. Prior to the strike, the women were expected to be subservient to their husband, with exclusively domestic roles consisting of cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. As a result of the strike and the famine that accompanied it, the women were forced to alter their role to provide food for their families. The goals of the men in women differed in that the men were fighting for equality and better pay, whereas the women were fighting a battle for their own and their children's survival. So despite the fact that the declaration of strike and refusal to work until their demands were met was the campaign of the men, it was the women who ultimately forced the Frenchmen to see their resolve and succumb to their demands. The culprit behind the alteration of women's role in society was the enforced famine, which eventually resulted in the first of the women's rebellions against the French. Because the men were no longer providing money to purchase food, the women became the providers of the family. As their situation worsened and starvation became imminent, the women resorted to breaking the law. What's remarkable in...

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...Sembene Ousmane's novel, "Gods Bits of Wood," gives a highly detailed story of the railway strike of 1947-48 in French West Africa. It contains conflicts of political, emotional and moral nature. Ultimately, Sembene's novel is one of empowerment. It brings to light the tension between colonial officials and the African community among the railway men as well as the struggle of the African community to free itself from being subjected to colonial power. Frederick Cooper's article, "Our Strike: Equality, Anticolonial politics and the 1947-48 Railway Strike in French West Africa," helps reveal the strike's true meaning and agenda by analyzing the conflicts present in Sembene's novel. In fact, it paints a very different picture of the railway strike than Sembene's novel.
As seen throughout Sembene's novel, one of the key elements of the railway strike is the importance of leadership and trust among the railway workers and the African community. With the direction of wise and educated leaders, the railway men are brought together and are given a sense of empowerment in their affairs with the French government. Two of these leaders that Sembene mention in his novel are Bakayoko and Fa Keita. Bakayoko is a young, educated delegate who takes care of the legal affairs of the railway men; and Fa Keita is an old, but wise and mature man in the African community who the people look up to for decisions concerning the people.
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Summer Reading
God’sBits of Wood
Characters (by region)
Bakayoko- Bakayoko is the novel's central character, in spite of the fact that he doesn't actually appear in person until more than two thirds of the way through. Until his return to the Thies / Bamako / Dakar region, (Chapter 16), his presence is theoretical and inspirational rather than physical, his beliefs and actions defining choices for both pro- and anti- strikers, for both those who respect him and those who don't. In short, even while the narrative line is defined by the actions and circumstances of other characters, Bakayoko is a constant presence, undeniably a leader, and a profoundly complex human being, simultaneously idealistic and pragmatic, restrained and passionate, charismatic and reserved, and personally arrogant.
Beaugosse (Daouda): educated; in love with N'Deye touti; quits union and RR and allies with. ('Beaugosse' meaning 'pretty boy’ in French, but without the homosexual overtones these words have in English. In other words, somebody 'dressed to impress').
Deune: husband of Bineta and Mame Sofi.
Arona: a "true believer" (devout Muslim)
Alioune: head of Dakar local of RR Union.
Ramatoulaye: head of large family clan centered at her 'compound', N'Diayene. Mame Sofi and Bineta: both are wifes of Deune.
Houdia M'Baye: widow of Badiane (killed in first fighting in strike); 9 children including Anta;...

... Department of English
Title of the Novel : God’sbits of the wood ( Les bouts de bois de Dieu )
Author : Sembene Ousmane
The main characters of the novel
Fa Keita : dean of layers of rails. He supported the strikers since the beginning.
Tiemoko : one of the delegates of Bamako
Doudou : secretary of the railwaymen’s federation
Penda : a prostitute that becomes a leader of women
Ramatoulaye : a brave woman who dared to kill his brother’s ram in order to nourrish her family
Introduction
The God’sbits of wood is a novel produced by the great senegalese writer Sembene Ousmane. This novels talks about a strike that railwaymen went on because of the injustice they have been through. In this novel, the author tries to highlight the african society in the colonial period after the Second World War. How the colonial power persecutes, treats injustly, oppresses brutally and in an atrocious way the african people. On the other hand, he tries to show the african society in all its manifestations : how the social fabric is organised ? what is the role of each individual, specially the one of woman , to play in society ? How collectivistic the society is specially in the time of sorrow , fear and danger ?
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...preparing the food, and rearing the children. But the onset of the strike gives the role of bread-winner-or perhaps more precisely bread scavenger-to the women. Women go from supporting the strike to participating in the strike. Eventually it is the women that march on foot, over four days from Thies to Dakar. Many of the men originally oppose this women's march, but it is precisely this show of determination from those that the French had dismissed as "concubines" that makes clear the strikers' relentlessness. The women's march causes the French to understand the nature of the willpower that they are facing, and shortly after the French agree to the demands of the strikers.
Perhaps no female character better captures transformation of the African female than Penda. Penda is first introduced as an unmarried women who breaks custom by having "periodic escapades" with men (Ousmane 137). But the experience of the strike turns what once was anger and stubborn independence to dedication and selfless communalism. Her strength of spirit leads the union officials to seek her out to be in charge of the line distributing rations to the striking families. Penda's firmness of purpose proves surprising and implacable to those that try to use her reputation for promiscuity against her. Penda goes so far as to publicly slap a man who chooses to pat her behind (Ousmane 142).
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Strayer University
HUM 112 The Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change
Deborah Sarmiento
Professor: Christopher Sisson
December 2, 2012
WOMEN’SROLES THEN &amp; NOW 2
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